A disease named for the San Joaquin Valley, where the same soil produces the state’s agricultural bounty can turn traitorous.

The disease, called the “silent epidemic”, known as “cocci”, became less silent last week when a federal judge ordered the state to transfer about 2,600 vulnerable inmates — including some with H.I.V. — out of […]

There are about 33,000 mentally ill prisoners in state prisons in California, close to 30 percent of the prison population. The number of suicides in state prisons has soared in recent years, to about 24 suicides per 100,000 inmates a year, a rate about 48 percent higher than the national average.

Yes, there are lots […]